clear to assad and those under his command -- the world is watching. the use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable. >>pam: u-s officials are concerned that with fighting moving closer to damascus, the assad regime may be getting desperate and could use chemical weapons to try to crush the rebellion. secretary of state hillary clinton says if assad goes down that road... there will be consequences. >> this is a red line for the united states. i'm not going to telegraph in any specifics what we would do in the event of credible evidence that the assad regime has resorted to using chemical weapons against their own people, but suffice it to say we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur. >>pam: u-s officials say assad could use artillery shells filled with sarin to push back opposition forces. sarin is 500 times more deadly than cyanide. one drop can kill a person in a matter of minutes. syria not the only thing on washington's mind right now. with about four weeks to go before that fiscal cliff of tax hi